Welcome back to the Fantasy Hockey Injury Report. Hockey is back, which means injuries are back too. You can’t avoid them, but we can get a head start and plan around them. The injury report will be out every Tuesday to help you plan the rest of your fantasy hockey week. Let’s take a look at which key players are dealing with injuries. 

Gabriel Landeskog - Colorado Avalanche - Winger

Injury: lower-body, Indefinitely.

Things in Colorado are going from bad to worse. After losing Mikko Rantanen last week due to injury, Gabriel Landeskog is now out of the lineup and there is no timetable for his return. The team hasn’t given us any details about the injury, but we do know that it’s longer than week-to-week. Fantasy owners for now need to stash him on the IR and wait for more news to come out. 

Victor Hedman - Tampa Bay Lightning - Defence

Injury: lower-body, one week.

Injuries are starting to hit the Tampa Bay Lightning, but this one is a pretty big blow. Victor Hedman has been placed on IR due to a lower-body injury and there is no timetable for his return. No one knows just how serious the injury is, but he will miss the team’s next two games, as he’s only eligible to come off IR on November 8th. For fantasy owners, it’s obviously a huge blow losing Hedman, but we do have a timeframe on when he might be able to return, so plan your lineups accordingly. There are some serviceable defenceman on the waiver wire that can fill in for at least a week.

Patrik Laine - Winnipeg Jets - Winger

Injury: lower-body, day-to-day.

Winnipeg Jets superstar Patrik Laine missed the team’s last game due to a lower-body injury and his status for Friday’s game against the Sharks is still up in the air. He collided with new teammate Luca Sbisa at practice, and wasn’t able to go in their game against Anaheim on Tuesday. Head coach Paul Maurice did say that the injury isn’t serious, but wouldn’t commit to him being ready to go Friday. We should expect Laine to be a game time decision, but hopefully we will know more as we move closer to the weekend.

Mika Zibanejad- New York Rangers - Center

Injury: upper-body, day-to-day.

Mika Zibanejad missed the last game due to an upper-body injury and he is questionable for Saturday’s game against the Nashville Predators. The 26-year-old missed practice on Monday and was a no show for morning skate on Tuesday. The team decided to give their talented centerman the night off with the hope that he would be ready to go for Saturday. Fantasy owner’s are hoping for the same. 

Vladimir Tarasenko - St. Louis Blues - Winger

Injury: shoulder, five months.

It looks like Vladimir Tarasenko’s season has come to an end. The Russian winger underwent successful shoulder surgery on Tuesday to repair a dislocated shoulder. It’s the same shoulder that he has surgery on back in April of 2018. He will be reevaluated in five months, which is March, when fantasy hockey playoffs are in full swing. Unless you’re in a keeper league, Tarasenko can be dropped. There’s no chance that he will come back this season, even if everyone wants to believe that he will. The hope is that his shoulder injury doesn’t become a lingering problem, but with two surgeries in two years, there may be a chance that we are seeing his shoulder fall apart in real time. The fantasy hockey community wishes him a speedy recovery.